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Tempura vegetables

OK, so this may not be the healthiest way to consume your veggies but as a one-off it’s REALLY tasty! When I first made these I did so as a starter, which in hindsight was a bit of a mistake as everyone was too full to eat the rest of the dinner! Now I like to cook up a big batch, serve with a couple of dipping sauces and a great movie!

(Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main)

Big pile of chopped up veggies – I used carrots, broccoli, peppers, baby sweetcorn and onion but you can pretty much use whatever you have in the kitchen

Pan with enough vegetable oil to cover the veggies (I cook mine in batches so as not to use too much oil but if you have a deep-fat fryer then you can do them all at once)

For the batter:

Cup of plain flour

Teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda

Sparkling water – add to create the constancy you need (see below)

Sea salt and pepper to season

Mix the batter mix in a big bowl – the consistency should be liquid but thick enough to stick to the veggies.

Heat the oil up in the pan – it needs to be pretty hot so the veggies don’t absorb too much oil and go soggy but not so hot that it’s smoking

Add the batter mixture-covered veggies a few at a time and fry until the batter is a pale golden colour

Place the cooked tempura on a few sheets of kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil

Serve with dipping sauces and enjoy!

Note: If I’m feeling lazy then I’ll just serve the tempura with ready-made sweet chilli or hoisin sauce for dipping but often I’ll make up my own, which is super-quick and easy:

Approx 3/4 soy sauce to 1/4 Chinese cooking wine

Chopped fresh garlic

Chopped fresh ginger

Chopped red chilli (with or without the seeds depending on how hot you like it)